Background

Arthur Murray Rutter was born February 26, 1894 in Fredericton, New Brunswick to Mary Annie Aitkens and Murray C. Rutter. According to records, Murray and Annie married one another in October 1878. Early in their marriage, the couple dealt with the loss of three young children. On Christmas eve 1880, their one-year old daughter, Janet A., passed away and six years later Henry Charles, two, and Bessie Frances, four, both died from illnesses. Their fourth child, Thomas, was born in 1886. Arthur was the youngest and last child born to Annie. Arthur’s father was well-known in Fredericton as the city’s Fire Department Chief prior to the war, and both Thomas and Arthur also volunteered with the fire department. Although there are few details of his upbringing, the family attended St. Paul’s United Church and were pupils in local schools. By 1911 Arthur was working as a clerk in the city and later a telegraph operator. During this time, he met a young woman from Marysville named Eva C. Fitton and together they were married July 31, 1913. When war broke out in 1914, Arthur and Eva were living at 119 Saint John Street. According to his attestation papers, on November 17, 1915, he enlisted in Sussex, New Brunswick with the 104th Battalion a year after his brother Thomas. He was described as having hazel eyes, dark brown hair, a fair complexion, while standing five feet nine inches tall. Over the next few months, Arthur remained in Canada training with the 104th in preparations for going overseas in the spring of 1916. While it is unclear if he saw Eva again before he left, it is likely that he would have had the opportunity. At the time of his enlistment, Arthur was twenty-one years old and without any previous military training.        

Wartime Experience

On June 28, 1916, Private Arthur M. Rutter embarked from Halifax, Nova Scotia aboard the S.S. Olympic for Liverpool, England along with other young men from the area. After arriving in July, Arthur was attached to a Signalling Brigade given his work experience at home in Canada. For the next year and a half, he remained in England involved in training others heading to the Western Front. After 18 months in England, Arthur joined a draft in February 1918 and was attached to the 26th Battalion. On February 24 he arrived in France for the first time with the 26th in the area of Arras. It would prove to be a hard introduction to the realities of fighting in the final year of the war. In the early spring of 1918, the German army began a series of devastating attacks along a wide area of the Western Front that erased territory gained by the Allies in December 1917. By July 1918, the Germans had advanced as far as Amiens, an impressive blow to the British and French armies. However, they had avoided the territory around Arras controlled by the Canadian Corps. Despite the losses, the Allies had regrouped by August and had shifted more than a hundred thousand Canadian “shock troops”, as they became known, to Amiens in secret. On August 8, Canadian and Australians, along with British and French units would over-run the German Army, a day that became known as the “black-day” for the German Army. A few weeks later, Arthur was advancing west of Cherisy along with signalers of the Headquarter’s Company near the Drocourt-Queant Line. According to his circumstances of death record, on August 27 he was wounded by gun-shot wounds to his legs and shoulders. He was immediately attended to and evacuated to No. 1 Casualty Clearing Station where he succumbed to the effects of his wounds the following day. Although newspapers would report the return of his brother Thomas to Fredericton after the war, little mention appears to have been given to Arthur’s death. On November 8, 1923, the Daily Gleaner shared information about the unveiling of St. Paul’s bronze tablets in memory of those killed from their congregation. Alongside twenty-five others who had given up their lives, A. Murray Rutter was among those being honoured. At the time of his death in the summer of 1918, Arthur was twenty-four years old leaving behind his wife, Eva and his family.   

Lest We Forget

Private Arthur Murray Rutter is buried with honour at the Ligny-St. Flochel British Cemetery located in Averdoingst, France. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, there are approximately 681identified casualties in this cemetery. Arthur is also honoured on a plaque located outside of the old Fredericton Fire Station, dedicated to firefighters in the city who served during the First World War.